Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-03-19

also compels the retreat to some con-
venient shop, as there could be no pos
sibility of passing, of course though
on such an occasion it is only a
pleasure. No wonder the Chinese acquire
the habit OF walking in single file. The
streets are paved and remarkably clean,
the most disagreeable smells coming, l
think, from the cooking.
Canton has had long years of commerce
with foreigners, but with little effect upon
her customs-trade with India as early as
| 700 A. D.; Arabs came in the tenth CEN
| fury, the Portuguese in 1916, and the ia
nous East India Company in 1884. Still,
Canton remains Chinese completely.
PECULIAR CHINESE INSTITUTIONS.
The execntion-ground, near the river,
gives q good view of the sky, which looks
refreshingly like home, but the instru-
! ments of torture. crosses, ETC., piled up in
! one corner for use, soon again seem to
draw q cloud between us and the heavens
Three hundred year is the average num-
Der of executions, while in 1855 fully So
900 were beheaded-fortunate that the
| place is so near the river.
Near here, outside the walls, are the
homes for old men, old women, the blind,
the lepers and an asylum for foundlings;
all these relieve the darkness somewhat
and by the payment of a very small fee
people may become inmates.
The hall where the examination of lit
erary candidates for the second degree takes
| place every three years is strange, I'M
| canny place. On either side of broad
| tagged roadway within high walls, are
| ranged the 11,616 gray stone ex4 cells in
which the candidate sleeps, cooks, eats and
| writes during the nine days, with but three
| intermissions. If one dies he is taken out
over the wall, as it is unlawful for any to
pass through the gates. There are also
rooms or cells to accommodate 5000 serv-
ants. If the examinations at Berkeley
were conducted on this plan. fear there
would be few physically capable of pass
ing, and the ladies would be quite excluded
These examinations are essentially Chinese
| and consequently incomprehensible to the
western man.
A visit to the prison is disagreeable in the
extreme, bat when it is over you are pleased
to think that it is not so horrible as is posi-
bic. Separate yards, Enclosed with pal
ings, make places for petty offenders,
women and criminals of the worst class. l
went among them all, and distributed
small coins. or rather large coins OF small
value, which they were very eager for; and
it did my heart good to think that it might
in some degree lessen the suffering of the
poor creatures. Their nearness to me and
| the filth of the place soon drove me to the
gate, which, after some knocking Was
| opened. In damp. dark cell l saw some
! men in the cangue, or wooden collar,
which prevents them from lying down or
from reaching the face with their hands
The crime of the prisoner is written on his
| cangue, and they bent down for me to read
them tan impossible thing for me) with
evident pride.
THE TEMPLE OF HORRORS
With its ten views of hell is simply laugh
able, for there is so much real suffering
| that these grotesque representations of tor
ments produce anything but feeling of
horror in the mind.
In tower on the wall, quite in the
midst of the city, is curious device for
telling the time; four jars, one above the
other, are placed so that water put into the
upper one runs slowly down to the lowest,
where little boat floats, and as the masts
rise with the water, certain marks on the
masts tell the time as they pass the edge of
the jar. A painted board is exposed every
half hour upon the tower telling the time
to people in the neighborhood. To the
north of this place is a Mohammedan
mosque, where the brother of Mahomet's
mother was buried in 629 A. D. On the
right, the White Cloud hills, and on the
left the hills of Saichin, with the grave
j covered slopes between. From this tower
Yeh, the Viceroy, in 1854, viewed the bat
ties during the rebellion, and both the
French and English soldiers have occupied
it since that time
An evening visit to the hower-boats
down the river, especially in summer, is
pleasant if one is not unfriendly to Chinese
music. The gilded youth" of Canton,
when they would give swell party and
make papa's money fly, always hire one of
these guadily- decorated boats, and with
| music, lanterns, and all the good things of
Celestial life, float down the river. l had
the pleasure of being the guest of Chinese
merchant one evening, but as the music
was rasping, the sweetmeats nauseating.
and the singing girls painted beyond ali
imagination, i found pleasure only in the
kindness of my host, and also in the i'm
mense strings thirty feet long, of fire.
crackers, which brought to mind the
Fourth of July on the other side of the
ocean.
don't think the Chinese care enough
about us to notice our Restriction Act; but
the outrages in Wyoming and California
naturally have lowered US in their regard
and have weakened whatever respect they
may have had for Christians. If we must
oppose them, let us do it in way which
will show them that our civilization is not
the equal, but the superior of theirs.
CHARLES A. GUNNIsoN.
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